The same-sex marriage bill cannot hide the fact that we have problems with the rule of law

During the domestic political debate, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is trying to create an image of what exactly he represents in the first place. “European” the spirit of institutional modernization, promoting measures that harmonize our country with the framework that we usually consider “liberal“.

The most striking example is the way he insists and promotes, as a breakthrough in reform, legislation allowing marriage and childbearing for same-sex couples, despite the opposition of the church and much of the “right” (including “far right” within New Democracy).

However, if we lift the curtain on the situation a little and look at the “big picture”, we will notice that everything is not so simple. Because at the very time when, at home, the Prime Minister is claiming to be “Moses” liberalism leading us into a future where “center” will be hegemon, and the distinction between left and right is outdated, in the European Parliament our country took a real blow for its rule of law and human rights record, and MEPs from across the political spectrum treated it in much the same way as Orbán’s Hungary.

This is because the European Parliament and European institutions are guided neither by the priorities of the domestic political debate in Greece (or the internal conflict in the south-west of the country), determined mainly by the government, nor by the European ambitions of the prime minister.

European institutions see exactly the “big picture”, but do not see the real situation:

They see serious problems for democracy when, for example, the prime minister’s right-hand man, his nephew Grigoris Demetriades, found himself at the center of an unprecedented case of illegal wiretapping using spyware supplied by businessmen with whom he worked.

They see press freedom problems when journalists trying to solve serious cases are targeted by Predator spyware, face a barrage of lawsuits aimed at silencing them, fall prey to hitmen, or face constant death threats .

They see problems with guarantees of rights and adherence to values EUwhen they see how the government changes the composition of independent authorities to make them more friendly to it.

They see problems with the functioning of the mechanisms of the judiciary, when it does not have full guarantee of its independence and often obeys the orders of political power, covering up illegal actions and turning the court into an instrument for protecting the personal interests of the prime minister.

They see conditions of endemic corruption, when parallel routes of businessmen, representatives of the domestic mafia and representatives of political power are observed, in any combinations and for any transaction options.

And when they see itthey rightly believe that Greece is moving towards Orban’s Hungary rather than, say, Macron’s France (whose Eurogroup has been at the forefront of criticism of Greece’s human rights and rule of law record).

In this overall picture, the menacing argument of ruling party MEPs that “all issues were resolved in the elections because complaints were made before the Greek elections and in those elections the ND was re-elected with 41%” is probably not convincing.

In fact, the tone they chose while the country was under attack – even the representative of the European People’s Party, “political family” to which “ND” belongs, admitted that there are problems in Greece – and which was something like “you won’t leave us with your obsessions”, rather proves that they are part of the problem. It is enough to remember that they did not even think that they would have to answer, because among those who were being monitored was Member of the European Parliament Georgios Kyrtsos, who was elected under the mandate of the ND.

All this shows the main problem of our country. Our country is becoming… Hungary, not in some spectacular way or with an obvious shift to populist and far-right rhetoric, but with the erosion of institutions and rights under the veil “liberalism” And “modernization”with the parliamentary dominance of the ruling party, which is presented as the legitimation of every measure and every step to expand arbitrariness “executive state”as if an article had been added to the constitution saying: “whoever gets 41% of the votes can do whatever he wants.”

But neither the liberal facade or even individual measures of liberal logic, nor the contextual dominance of “New Democracy” (combined with the crisis of the opposition) reduces the importance and scale of the problem of the functioning of the rule of law in the country. It is for this reason that it is necessary that debates about the real protection of the rule of law take place not only in the European Parliament, but also within the country.

And to those who are quick to say that there are more pressing issues, such as high costs or crime, I would say that this is true, and that, unfortunately, democracy and the rule of law do not fill the stomach or make the streets safer, but they are necessary a condition for both demanding social policies and demands for greater security.

The author’s opinion may not reflect the opinion of the editors

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